Irritated EU leaders voice ‘lack of trust’ with US after spying claims

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (2nd R) talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L), European Council President Herman Van Rompuy (2nd L) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on the second day of an European Council meeting on October 25, 2013 at the EU headquarters in Brussels. (AFP Photo) / AFP

EU leaders say their relations with the US have been undermined by reports of NSA spying on European leaders and ordinary citizens. A partnership with America should be built on respect and trust, they said in a joint statement.

The statement was released Friday amid the ongoing summit of top
European politicians in Brussels.

It said the reports of American surveillance in Europe have
raised “deep concerns” among citizens and may harm
cooperation with the US as well as cooperation within the EU,
particularly in such a “vital” area as
counter-terrorism.

"[The leaders] stressed that intelligence gathering is a vital
element in the fight against terrorism,” the statement said.
“A lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in
the field of intelligence gathering."

The document also revealed that France and Germany will “seek
bilateral talks with the US with the aim of finding before the
end of the year an understanding on mutual relations,” with
other EU member states welcomed to join the initiative.

The Guardian reports that the UK, which is known as a staunch US
ally and is also accused of widespread spying in Europe, was
pressured to sign the document by the 27 other European leaders.

"It was very important, the common statement, because it shows
that the EU member states consider that there is an EU dimension
on this," he said.

The EU is sending a delegation to Washington on Monday to seek a
response to allegations of widespread spying by the US against EU
citizens and governments, Reuters reports.

During their three-day visit the members of the European
Parliament's civil liberties committee are scheduled to meet
senior US government and intelligence officials and explore
“possible legal remedies for EU citizens” in response to the
alleged US surveillance.

Senior German officials are also expected to arrive in the US
“shortly” to discuss spying allegation with the White House and
the NSA.

Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose phone had been
reportedly bugged by American digital spies, warned that European
countries’ relations with the US have been "severely
shaken" by the developing scandal and that "trust needs to
be rebuilt."

"The United States of America and Europe face common
challenges. We are allies. But such an alliance can only be built
on trust," she said. "That's why I repeat again: spying
among friends, that cannot be."

Over the week a number of reports on alleged American electronic
surveillance have been released by various media outlets. The US
National Security Agency was said to be spying on French and
Italians, have wiretapped phones of 35 unidentified world leaders
under the Bush administration, and particularly eavesdrops on
Merkel.

The German leader is said to have a personal distaste for being
spied on due to her experience in Communist Eastern Germany,
where the nation’s notorious Stasi secret police had her under
surveillance along with thousands of other Germans.

Spain leaders were also apparently targeted, according to reports
from El Pais, the country’s most highly circulated paper.

The Spanish Government fears that current Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy and his predecessor Luis Rodriguez Zapatero were among
those officials targeted by the NSA.

José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfi, Spain’s Minister for Foreign
Affairs, previously said he would speak with US Ambassador James
Costos as soon as there was confirmation regarding the issue. On
Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would
call in ambassador Costos to Madrid to explain reports of
American spying on the country, AFP reports.

"We do not have evidence that Spain has been spied on ... but
we are calling in the ambassador to get information," Rajoy
said after an EU summit which was dominated by the growing
scandal that US intelligence targets ostensibly friendly
countries.

European concerns over American surveillance are not shared by
every member of the EU. Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle
Thorning-Schmidt told the media she doesn’t believe that she or
her citizens have been targeted by the NSA, so she would not
support a French-German initiative for starting a dialogue with
the US to find a new ground in the surveillance issue.

Amid the surveillance scandal, the European Parliament this week
called for a suspension of America’s access to the SWIFT
database, which contains millions of financial messages detailing
exchanges around the world. The move is symbolic rather than
binding.

But Europeans and some other countries elsewhere in the world are
also seeking to toughen up data protection laws in the wake of the revelation
of the scale of NSA surveillance.